One of my two cats, Ella, has a very bad habit of counter-exploring (She's about 9 years old, spayed, calico, indoor, fed wet food x2 daily so this is not some food depravation issue ). We've tried water bottle sprays, chasing her away while making loud noises, immediately confining her to the downstairs part of the house, and even dumping water on her (yes, I know this sounds harsh but after 20+ times of her doing this and getting reprimanded each time we've seen her do it, I think it was justified. Her pride was the only thing hurt ;) )

I found this little gadget on Amazon that delivers a pretty jolting burst of air and loud noise. It seems perfect because I can put it on the counter and wait for the little opportunist to jump up and trigger the motion sensor.

There's just one problem, which is probably just me worrying too much, but I'd rather get opinions than be sorry later on. Ella has had a few UTIs over the past year, the first of which we attributed to a dry food diet (cue the switch to wet food and frequent water fountain changes) and the second of which we think was caused by stress (at the time, there were a lot of people she didn't know going in and out of the house for repairs). I'm worried, judging by the reactions of cats when they get sprayed in videos I've seen, that this will cause a great deal of stress, especially when she gets on the counters multiple times a day. Do you guys think this could trigger a UTI or is a little too harsh, or am I just being overprotective?

I plan to put it in an area that will mean she'll get immediate punishment when jumping up, instead of a delayed reaction (she won't understand why she got sprayed if she's been on the counter for 10 minutes already). Anyways, just wanted opinions before I hand over $20 for this thing

It just looks a little >>harsh<<, but I'm not sure what else I could do. Any other ideas? I've tried tinfoil, which seemed to work, but is obviously not a practical long term solution.